You landed somewhere in the middle of a story.
Let me catch you up.
I am Jessica Gabrielzyk. Brazilian, living in Switzerland, writing in English about the things that happen when your life moves and you have to figure out who you are on the other side. I write about change. This is where it all lives.
WHO I AM
The immigrant mother who learned the hard way and wrote it down.
I grew up in São Paulo. I lived in Brisbane for almost ten years and studied at Griffith University. I moved to Switzerland. I had a daughter in a country that was not mine, in a language I was still learning, without my mother or my sisters nearby. I also have a husband who is my biggest cheerleader, a toddler who taught herself the word "tired," and a habit of waking up at 2am with questions I cannot answer until morning.
I am not an academic. I am not a coach. I am a member of SIETAR, the Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research. My books are not theory. They are what happens when you live something long enough to understand it and then sit down to write it for the next person who is in the middle of it right now.
The Books
Three books. One map. Every stage of the expat parent journey.
Pregnancy
Maternity Abroad: Becoming a Mother in a Foreign Land
The book for anyone navigating pregnancy and early motherhood in a country that is not theirs. Healthcare, finding help, the best café in town, and everything in between.
Early Childhood
My First American Coloring Book: Everyday Life in the U.S. for Little Hands
101 illustrations of real American daily life for toddlers from age two. Screen-free. For expat families, immigrant parents, homeschoolers, and anyone raising a child who is curious about the world.
Identity
Parenting Unpacked: Parenting Through the Loss of Self
The book about the part nobody warns you about. Endorsed by Ruth E. Van Reken, co-author of Third Culture Kids. Selected for the SiETAR congress in Valencia. Launching June 24th, 2026 on Amazon.
PEOPLE YOU WILL MEET HERE
This blog has a cast. Here is who they are.
Ruth E. Van Reken - THE ENDORSEMENT
Co-author of Third Culture Kids. Co-founder of Families in Global Transition. She endorsed Parenting Unpacked.
Papa Balla Ndong - THE ONE WORD
Human Migration Expert. Executive President of SIETAR Europa. He read the post about the book and left one word: wonderful.
Rhoda Bangerter - THE COFFEE
Author of Holding the Fort Abroad. She asked me for coffee. She had super seeds. I had tea. She called the coloring book brilliant.
Julia Kerscht Squassoni - THE VOICE MESSAGE
President of SIETAR Brasil. Intercultural facilitator. She sent a voice message before I had brushed my teeth saying I write beautifully.
Luciana Gomide - THE COINCIDENCE THAT WASN’T
The author who endorsed Maternity Abroad and then selected your writing anonymously for Mulheres em Travessia without knowing it was yours. That story is too good not to be in the cast.
My daughter - THE REASON
She learned the word tired. She does not know the coloring book was made for her. She is the whole point of most of this.
My husband - THE CHEERLEADER
My biggest supporter and therefore not my most objective source of information. He is always there. He is always proud. He is not always right.
Pick the one that sounds most like where you are right now
If you are navigating a new country, raising a child between cultures, or just trying to figure out who you are now that everything has changed — you are in the right place.
I write about change. The practical kind and the kind that sneaks up on you. The 2am kind and the kind that arrives in a voice message before you have brushed your teeth. All of it. Because all of it is real and all of it deserves to be named.
Start anywhere. I will be here.
Jessica Gabrielzyk